I know that University of Michigan and USC are common safety schools. Are there any other ones, though? It’d be ideal if they have a great STEM program.
This should be good. Grabbing the popcorn and pulling up a chair. 
According to google USC has an acceptance rate of 16.5%, and Michigan 28.6%. These are great schools and might be a match for a VERY strong student (particularly UM for a strong student from Michigan), but I would not call them “safety” schools.
For most strong students their own in-state public schools are their safeties. For students from California generally the safeties would be in-state public schools other than the “top 2” there. Universities outside of the US mostly accept students based on grades and test scores, so I know a few kids who had very strong grades and “safeties” outside of the US, mostly in Canada (due to geographic proximity, we live in New England).
Ivy League schools are generally at best a lottery shot for very strong students, and hopeless for most of the rest. Thus if applying to Ivy League or equivalent schools you need to carefully consider other options including matches and safeties. For safeties you need to run the NPC and make sure that you can afford them (as well as getting in and being willing to go there).
You posted on another thread that you live in CA. If you are applying to majors in the College of Engineering, you should apply broadly to UCs, probably including UC Santa Cruz, UCSB and maybe Irvine or Davis in addition to Berkeley and UCLA.
You might also apply to Calpoly SLO, as it is an excellent school for engineering and the application is easy. Calpoly SLO is not a safety for engineering, especially if your ACT doesn’t go up. Santa Cruz may be a safety almost.
If by STEM you mean you’ll be applying to one of physics/chemistry/biology/math, those are a little easier to get accepted to than engineering/CS.
USC is not at all a safety for engineering. I don’t know much about Michigan.
My CA-resident daughters both used the mid-range UCs as safety schools - Davis, Irvine, and SD.
@Scipio: When did your daughters apply? What majors and stats? Mid-tier UC’s are still not considered good safety schools for competitive majors such as STEM. Too much uncertainty in the UC admissions these days. Take a look at some of the decision threads to see how many very competitive applicants were completely shut out this year especially for Engineering/CS.
@Ynotgo I’m more interested in Biology than engineering.
Unless the OP meant University of South Carolina (USC) as a safety, then, um NO, those are not safeties
@Gumbymom D1 graduated 2nd in her class with SAT of 2320 and was a National Merit Scholar. D2 graduated first in her class with of SAT of 2210 and ACT of 34.
Both girls were accepted to every UC to which they applied including Berkeley (both) and UCLA (D2). Both girls were offered Regents scholarships at several campuses including Berkeley for D1. Irvine kept sending “likely” letters to D2 promising to accept her if only she would apply.
Both girls ended up choosing Ivy schools (Harvard and Dartmouth) where they majored in Physics and Neuroscience, respectively. D1 was also accepted to Stanford and MIT. After graduating, D2 went to Berkeley for grad school and earned her Master’s in Biostatistics just this past May. She just started her first job.
So they both fit the description of the type of student the OP is asking about. And for both girls their rock-bottom safety was my alma mater - UC Davis.
@Scipio You may want to look at the OP’s other posts before you decide on safeties to recommend. He/she currently has a superscored ACT of 31.
@Ynotgo Hmm…thanks. I usually do not look up the stats of other posters. I took the question at face value and answered it. And IMO the middle-tier UCs are still excellent safeties for CA residents who are legitimate applicants for the Ivy League.
The OP has a 31 ACT superscore. NEITHER of these schools is a safety school for him at this point. Look at his chances thread…in addition to some Ivy schools…he has Stanford, Georgetown, and Cal on his potential list. NONE of those would be sure things for him with a 31 superscore ACT.
@ttg1125 look at University of Alabama. That would be a safety for you and you would get some merit aid as well.
USC and Michigan…NOT safety schools…not.
Hi. I’m in a similar position as you and I’ve found some safety schools I would be very happy to attend. USC and Michigan are very good options but they are target/reach schools rather than safeties. In-state schools are great safeties. You’re lucky that you live in California because you have a bunch of in-state schools. I’m from an area where I have no in-state schools (yikes) so I have some other options to suggest. Perhaps consider some LACs like Lafayette, Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, Gettysburg, or some women’s colleges like Bryn Mawr, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Scripps. Even these are a little target-ish (some of them are probably targets) so be sure to apply to a couple. Take a look at Pitt (note the rolling admissions), Fordham, Occidental, Rhodes, Denison, Colorado College, College of Wooster just to name a few (very random) options. There are plenty of OOS state schools you should look into that aren’t as competitive as Michigan. An important thing with safeties would be to find schools that you actually want to attend.
@Scipio: Thank you for the information and congratulations on having such exceptional daughters. You must a very proud parent.
For clarification, the reason I asked the questions was that I was aware of OP’s resume which is definitely not the same caliber as your daughters.
I’m curious…what state has NO in-state colleges?
Maybe DC?
@thumper1 Yeah. I’m from DC
DC does have a ‘state’ school, but it is not highly ranked for anything. However, DC gives residents a TAP to use at other public schools that usually brings the OOS tuition costs down to reasonable.
Most schools don’t superscore ACT. Check target schools. Bama does not superscore SAT or ACT for scholarship purposes.
Well there IS this for D.C. Students…